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FIAR in a 4 week co-op K5/1st class

Has anyone used Before FIAR or one of the FIAR volumes for a co-op class? We have a Winter Camp that meets for 2 hours for 4 Mondays. The first hour and 15 mins is the core coverage and the last 45 mins is an activity that is scheduled for all groups to participate in. Our theme this year is Literature. I had these kids for 8 weeks and I read a number of books to them while they worked on crafts covering familiar animals in habitats -- the pond, the garden, backyard, and zoo. This is not a sit and listen to a reading group but rather a need to be doing group while listening. I was thinking of using a FIAR book each week and some activities w/ it but in the end I want them to create a "book" of the books, if that makes sense. Has anyone done anything like this previously? My other thought was using Legos and having them build an element of the story along w/ some crafts.

Hollie - you're too sweet. It's such a diverse little group but they are so sweet. I was amazed at how "hungry" they seemed to be for crafting the last session with the except of one little guy that really just wanted to draw on the whiteboard .

We have done co-ops with FIAR groups for a number of years and I would be happy to share ideas with you. One of my boys loved creating legos go to with the books we read too. I have some blog posts or would be happy to talk about titles. I don't know that we did exactly what you are talking about but we have had a lot of fun with the FIAR books!

You could always pick a book and then one or two elements that are more hands-on/active to go with them. I would be happy to brainstorm or share some ideas if it would be helpful.

EX. Pumpkin Runner - We did some fun science experiments to go with this one. Density - talked about it. Looked at various sizes of pumpkins. Made predictions and then tested it out. Also did balloon races by attaching a straw to a line tied between two trees. Can expand on the lessons here. Lessons on seeds and the life cycle of a pumpkin. Etc.

1) several people have done the "passport" idea where you visit a different country each week. You could make a folder with maps, flags, coloring scenes from each country (although I don't know that K'ers would appreciate this as much)

2) Do like Leslie mentioned and have activities for each book that you can put into a folder -- have a craft you could glue onto a sheet of paper and put in the folder, do the life cycle of a pumpkin, do a measurement graph and show them how to color in the "bar" to show the measure of items, do the experiment of things that will float and have a "check off" sheet that shows the items.... Glue cotton balls onto a sheet of paper (in varying thickness) to show cloud types and then color them different shades of gray with a marker to show the different cloud types. Do the "taste" test of different foods to show bitter, sweet, salty, etc., and then color the different parts of the tongue (you could have some kind of sheet for the 5 senses, too ….), etc.
So, basically, do activities (some color sheets, etc) and then have something on paper that reminds them of what they've done/has a record of what they've done that you put in a folder.

Another "active" thing you could do is have the children act out the story. This works really well for some of them. Caps for Sale (Before FIAR) has always been a huge favorite to act out. Some of the stories (Papa Piccolo) have you acting out certain words which can be a fun way to get the wiggles out.

You could have an "art show" at the end of the session with a collection of the works they did during the course.